T-SQL Tuesday #132: How Are You Coping with Pandemic?
T-SQL Tuesday was started some time ago by Adam Machanic whereby lots of people blog their thoughts on a common topic. Month #132 is hosted by Taiob Ali. This month we will share how each of us is coping with a global pandemic. These subjects are in no particular order, written in a rush without time…
Troubleshooting additional SQL Server Components
Today, I am introducing a series of articles on troubleshooting various components of SQL Server. My experience has been largely with the SQL Engine (“proper” SQL Server), but there are so many additional products that have become part of SQL Server. They are available under the same licence and unfortunately, the expectation is that…
T-SQL Tuesday #131: An Analogy
This month, the T-SQL Tuesday invitation is from Rob Volk. Rob has asked for an Analogy that you use to describe concepts. This works well for me as I use analogies a lot, today I’ve gone with… “I drive the truck” I once put together a presentation on the subject of “what is a DBA”.…
Query Plan says “Just do nothing”
How many times do you ask someone to do something and get the response “I’m not doing that – there’s no point”. Turns out SQL Server does that sometimes too – as I was reminded recently. After spending time examining query plans using SentryOne Plan Explorer, I was faced with the following improbable Plan…
Cannot view ErrorLog or use SQLAgent on multi Instance Server
An issue was reported with one of my SQL Servers that required it to be rebooted. After the reboot, I logged on to SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) to check the SQL ErrorLog to ensure that all was well. Unfortunately, I was met with an error when I tried to open the ErrorLog: “Failed to…
DataRelay 2019
I had a great time on Friday at Data Relay in Bristol. This article is about what I learned. I have tried to include links, either to presentations, slides or just example of the speakers previous work. I will update with further links as and when I get them. Data Relay (formerly known as SQL…
Azure Learning and my Learnings
It’s no secret that I’m keen to investigate new technologies. While my job is almost completely related to “on premises” versions of SQL Server, I’m hugely interested in what the future brings. Learning about new technologies can be difficult without a project in mind or specific manufacturer training. Trawling through Youtube for training can be…
SQL Server Express Edition – Patching and 32bit / 64bit
Patching a large SQL Server estate can be a big job. Where possible, tools such as Ivanti HEAT can be used to deliver and install patches, but this doesn’t always work. Some patching needs to be done manually – e.g. where applications or users need to be managed or when dealing with High Availability situations…
Looking out for… Parallelism
While closely monitoring a query that I was running, I observed some strange behaviour by another query. This other query quickly beat mine in terms of Pages read, which is fine, no competition. It went on to exceed it 4 x. The thing that stuck out was the “Degree of Parallelism” that it used –…
